Travis Zajac admitted that his new line didn't get off to the greatest start. Paired with Ilya Kovalchuk and Alexei Ponikarovsky, after Zach Parise was moved to a different line, Game 1 didn't produce rave returns.

Zajac scored, though it was on the power play, and had four shots on goal. Kovalchuk didn't have any and Ponikarovsky only had one. Zajac and Ponikarovsky were each -1, while Kovalchuk was a -2 for the game.

"It was alright," he said. "We were fine in the first and as the game went on we kind of dipped a little bit. It happens and we'll be better as the series goes on."

Asked if he thought more changes were coming, he responded much like everyone else: "I have no clue."

With Kovalchuk struggling, the question is how to get him going again. Zajac did not provide any definitives on how to do so.

But after struggling for the last two periods of regulation and the snippet of overtime, he said that the Devils' mood is still optimistic despite the loss.

"I think we are," Zajac said. "We know it wasn't our best game and we were still right there with a chance to win that game. At times we didn't play our best and we definitely could have snuck away with a win."